1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fire extinguishing apparatus for an engine compartment of an engine driven vehicle and to a method of extinguishing a fire in such engine compartment employing such fire extinguishing apparatus.
2. Prior Art Statement
Engine driven vehicles such as automobiles, trucks, buses, boats, railroad locomotives, and the like, are often operated by combustion engines which employ combustible fuels. It is a common occurrence for a fire to break out in an engine compartment of such a vehicle due to various causes including, a small fuel leak, engine backfire and fire in the engine carburetor, overheating and fire in electrical cables of the associated electrical system, and the like.
However, regardless of the cause of a fire, it is very important that it be extinguished immediately so that combustible materials in the associated engine compartment will not propogate the fire and cause it to spread to fuel provided from broken or damaged fuel supply lines, hydraulic fluid, and the like. Typical combustion materials in such an engine compartment include polymeric hose, nonmetallic components, electrical cables, and the like.
In the event of a fire, the common usual practice is for the vehicle operator to stop the vehicle and in the event such vehicle is an automobile, raise the hood of the engine compartment and employ a hand-operated extinguisher, if available, to extinguish any fire present. This procedure takes valuable time during which the fire usually is spreading and increasing in intensity. Further, once the hood is raised, additional air gets to the fire and serves to feed same aggravating the overall situation.
While it might be proposed (as is done in some aircraft systems) to provide a fire extinguishing system employing a separate and independent pressurized fluid source to extinguish any fire in an engine compartment, such a system adds substantial weight and cost to an overall vehicle and such weight and cost might not be readily justified in a vehicle such as an automobile where the risk of such fire in the engine compartment is not very great.